Annotations upon the remaining historicall part of the Old Testament. The second part. to wit, the books of Joshua, Judges, the two books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, and the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther : wherein first, all such passages in the text are explained as were thought likely to be questioned by any reader of ordinary capacity : secondly, in many clauses those things are discovered which are needfull and usefull to be known ... and thirdly, many places that might at first seem to contradict one another are reconciled ... / by Arthur Jackson.

CHAP. XXII.

Vers. 2. JEhoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.] Since the first revolt of the ten tribes under Jeroboam from the kingdome of Judah, there had been continuall warres betwixt the kings of Judah and Israel: but when Jehoshaphat came to the crown of Judah, and had a while continued the wars against Ahab, with good successe, 2. Chron. 17.1, 2, 3. And Jehoshaphat his sonne reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. And he placed force•• in all the fenced cities of Judah, &c. And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first wayes of his father David; fearing, it seems, lest their divisi∣ons might expose them both to the prevailing power of the Syrians, who began in in these times to encroach upon them, he judged it the best policie to put an end to these warres betwixt them and the kings of Israel, and so made a firm league with Ahab, and made also a match betwixt his sonne Joram, and Athaliah the daughter of Ahab, 2. Chron. 18.1. and 21.6. and hereupon it was that Jehoshaphat went down to visit Ahab; who with great cost and state entertained and feasted both him and his followers, 2. Chron. 18.2. Ahab killed sheep and oxen in abundance for Jehoshapat, and for the people that were with him.

Vers. 3. (And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours? &c.] One article in the league, which three years since Ahab had made with Ben-hadad was, that he should restore all the cities of Israel which were in his possession, chap. 20.34. And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities which my father took from thy father, I will restore. But Ramoth Gilead, it seems, he was loth to part with, and therefore now Ahab enters into consultation to recover it by forte, since he would not by fair means yield it up to him. It was a goodly citie, and besides it belonged to the Levites, and was a citie of refuge, Josh. 21.38. and therefore no wonder though he were unwilling that it should be any longer in the hands of the Syrians.

Vers. 6. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together about foure hundred men, &c.] To wit, his Baalitish false prophets, who were the great supporters of that linsey woolsey religion, that was now in fashion amongst the Israelites, pretending themselves the prophets of the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel, and yet withall the priests of Baal: as by the number we may guesse, perhaps they were those foure hundred prophets of the groves, which were reserved from appearing to Elijahs cha∣lenge, chap. 18.19, 20. however they were doubtlesse of Baals false prophets; for such Jehoshaphat knew them to be, and therefore could not rest in their predictions, vers. 7. and Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him.

Vers. 8. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man &c.] To wit, in Samaria, whom I could presently send for: this word yet may have reference either to those prophets that had prophecyed good successe to Ahab; to wit, that besides those, there was one man, a prophet of the Lords; or else, to the true prophets of the Lord; to wit, that though they were all in a manner slain or fled, there was yet one man left; namely, Micaiah the sonne of Imlah, &c.

And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.] As if he should have said, we must not say, we hate the prophets of the Lord, because they speak that which plea∣seth us not; if he be a faithfull prophet of the Lords, he must speak the truth what ever it be; and God forbid the king should say, that for that he hates him.

Vers. 11. And Zedekiah the sonne of Chenaaenah made him horns of Iron, &c.] whereby was signified the power of these two kings that were now to go against the Syrians for the recovery of Ramoth Gilead.

Vers. 13. Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, &c.] This the messenger that came for Micaiah might say: first, out of a kind of carnall cur∣tesie, as wishing well to the prophet: and secondly, out of some speciall desire he had that the warre should go forward.

Vers. 15. And he answered him, Go, and prosper; &c.] This Micaiah spake ironically, not to deceive Ahab, (for we see, he spake these words after such a man∣ner that Ahab himself perceived he meant not what he said) but by way of deriding the false prophets, who had all returned this pleasing answer to Ahab, and to inti∣mate, that he knew well enough that the king would not be pleased unlesse he said the same that they did; and therefore Micaiah said not, Thus saith the Lord, Go, and prosper, &c. but in a tone of derision, Go and prosper, for the Lord shall deli∣ver it into the hand of the king; as if he should have said, you had best go as your prophets advise you, they all tell you, that your expedition against Ramoth Gilead shall be prosperous, and that the Lord shall deliver it into your hands, and can you question the truth of such oracles? Indeed I know well that I•• shall not be so, but if I tell you the truth, I know you will not believe me, and therefore since you de∣sire to be deceived, be deceived; Go and prosper, &c. this was that which Micaiah intended, and the like ironicall expressions we have in other places, as that Gen. 3.22. concerning our first parents, when they by sinne were fallen from that blessed estate wherein God had created them: Behold the man is become like one of us, to know good and evil: and that of Elijah to Baals priests, 1. Kings 18.27. Crie aloud, for he is a God, either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey▪ or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked: and that of Solomon, Eccles. 11.9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth, and walk in the wayes of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes.

Vers. 17. And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd. &c.] Hereby was intimated, that Ahab should be slain, and his ar∣my routed; this expression of being scattered upon the hills, is used, because in that countrey, when they sought to escape the enemy that pursued them, they used to fly to the hills and mountains, there to hide themselves; whence is that, Matth. 24.16. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.

Vers. 18. Did I not tell thee, that he would prophesie no good concerning me, but evil.] By these words Ahab sought to intimate to Jehoshaphat, that he should not be troubled with these words of Micaiah, but conceive of them as spoken (as he had beforehand said he would do) out of hatred and malice against him. And indeed happely hereby it was that Jehoshaphat was deceived, and so went with Ahab, though Micaiah had foretold the death of Ahab, and dispersion of his army.

Vers. 19. And he said, Heare thou therefore the word of the Lord.] This word therefore hath relation to that which Ahab said to Jehoshaphat: Did I not tell thee, that he would prophecie no good concerning me, but evil, as if the Prophet had said; seeing thou art displeased at what I have said, and wilt not believe, but that I have spoken it out of ill will, I will now largely shew you the whole vision that I saw.

I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.] That is, the Angels who are the ministers of the God of heaven, at whose command they are continually imployed, and if in this host the evil spirits are also included, they are called the host of heaven: onely be∣cause they also are under the overruling power of God, and are ministers to execute his vengeance on the wicked, and were happely such as stood now on his left hand.

Vers. 20. And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.] This is added onely to imply, that God hath divers wayes and means whereby he can ac∣complish that which he hath purposed in himself.

Vers. 25. Thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thy self.] To wit, lest he should be slain, for incouraging the king to go a∣gainst Ramoth Gilead by his false prophecy.

Vers. 26. Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governour of the city, and to Joash the kings sonne.] This Joash was, it seems, either the sonne of Ahab, or rather the sonne of Omri the father of Ahab, and called usually amongst the people the kings sonne, and being in some place of authority in the citie, the Prophet was sent to him, together with Amon the governour of the citie. As for these words of Ahabs, Take Micaiah and carry him back; from hence it may be probably gathered, that when at first they fetched Michaiah, they fetched him out of prison, whither he is now sent back again; and because of this many Expositours incline to think, that this Micaiah was that Prophet that formerly threatned, that his life should go for the life of Ben-hadad, whom he had sent away in peace, chap. 20.42. and that for this he had been ever since kept in prison.

Vers. 27. Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction. &c.] That is, with a diet course and scanty, a poore pittance, enough to hold life and soul together, such as is usually allowed to poore captives and slaves, and will onely serve to prolong their affliction and misery. See Deut. 16.3▪

Vers. 29. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ra∣moth Gilead.] It was much that good Jehoshaphat should cause Micaiah to be sent for, and then suffer a proud Baalitish priest to smite him on the cheek before his face, and heare the king with such a severe charge send him back to prison, and never open his mouth to speak a word for the poore Prophet: but that he should go up to Ramoth Gilead with Ahab, after the Prophet had foretold the dangerous event of

this expedition is farre more strange, and indeed all that can be said herein is this, that either he was so farre overborn with the confidence of those foure hundred Pro∣phets that promised victory, that he began to think (however at first he suspected them) that their words might prove true rather then Micaiahs, the rather, because he knew that they should fight in a just cause, which God usually favours; or else, that having engaged his word already to Ahab, with whom he had lately joyned himself in affinitie, he was loth to shrink now upon the words of Micaiah, but chose rather to hazard the successe, and to make triall what the event would be.

Vers. 30. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise my self, &c.] Great personages are usually most laid at in battels; and besides, the prophesie of Micaiah had scared Ahab doubtlesse, though he seemed to slight it; yea perhaps he might also heare of the king of Syrias charge to his souldiers concerning him; to avoid therefore this danger, and so if it might be, to elude Micaiahs threat, he re∣solves to disguise himself, and to enter the battel in the habit of an ordinary captain. But yet happely Ahab pretended that he did this, onely that the Syrians might not know there were two kings in the battel, lest they should thereby be rendred the more cautelous and wary in their fight. And thus he might indeed upon a fair ground wish Jehoshaphat to go on in his robes, because he would not put upon him the disguising of himself in the attire of a common souldier or captain.

Vers. 31. Fight neither with small nor great, save onely against the king of Isra∣el.] This the king of Syria commanded his two and thirty captains, 1. Kings 22.31. first, because he might well hope that the death or taking of the king would be the readiest means to rout the whole army; or secondly, because he desired to wipe off the dishonour that fell upon him in the last battel, by bringing Ahab under his mer∣cie, as he was then exposed to the mercy of Ahab. So well doth he repay the mercie which the king of Israel had then shown him, and that no doubt by the speciall hand of Gods providence, to convince him of his folly in sparing him, whom God would have had destroyed.

Vers. 32. Jehoshaphat cried out.] That is, he cried out for help, to wit, both by calling upon Ahab to help him (whereby it may be the Syrian captains perceived that he was not the king of Israel) and by calling upon God for succour, who thereupon helped him (as it is said, 2. Chron. 18.31.) and moved the Syrians to depart from him; onely, the Lord was pleased by bringing him into this danger, to let him see his folly in going out with Ahab, notwithstanding the Prophet Micaiah had given him so fair a warning.

Vers. 34. Turn thine hand, and carrie me out of the host, for I am wounded.] That is, out of the battel; for he left not the camp, lest his souldiers should fly, but was stayed up in his chariot untill the evening, vers. 35. and thus at last the venge∣ance of God fell upon him for his idolatry, and for his persecuting Gods prophets, but especially for the death of Naboth.

Vers. 38. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his bloud, &c.] See the note, chap. 21.19, 41.

Vers. 42. Jehoshaphat was thirty and five yeares old when he began to reigne, and he reigned twenty and five yeares in Jerusalem.] Seeing therefore he began his reigne in the fourth yeare of Ahab, as it is said in the foregoing verse, who reigned

two and twenty years in Samaria, it must needs follow, that whilest Jehoshaphat sate in the throne of Judah Ahab reigned in Israel about seventeen or eighteen years; A∣haziah the sonne of Joram two years, and Jehoram his brother, the second sonne of Ahab about foure years, and then Jehoshaphat dyed, and Jehoram his sonne reigned in his stead: indeed some Expositours hold, that Jehoshaphat was designed and made king by his father Asa ten yeares, or thereabouts, before his father dyed, and that of this it must be understood which is said here, that he was thirty and five yeares old when he began to reigne; namely, when he was designed king in his fathers life time, and consequently, that he was five and fourty years old when he began to reigne alone by himself; and this I conceive to be most probable: nor can I well see how we can reconcile that seeming contradiction, betwixt the words of the sacred Scripture, in 2 Kings 8.26. and 2 Chron. 22.2. unlesse this be taken for granted. Besides, sure we are that Jehoshaphat himself did thus; namely, that he made his sonne Jehoram king in his life time, to wit, about the seventeenth yeare of his reigne, happely when he went with Ahab to Ramoth Gilead, as may be ga∣thered from the 2. Kings 1.17. and that having reassumed the government to him∣self at his return home, afterwards about the twenty first or twenty second of his reigne, he again put the government into his sonne Jehorams hands, some two years before he dyed.

Vers. 43. Neverthelesse, the high places were not taken away.] In 2 Chron. 17.6. it is said, that he did take away the high places: But the like objection concerning Asa is answered before, Chap. 15.14.

Vers. 45. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, &c.] Many of these are also re∣corded in the Scripture-Chronicles; as first, how in the third yeare of his reigne he sent teachers into all the places of his land where they wanted instruction, 2 Chron. 17.7. secondly, how he recovered the tribute due unto him by the Arabians and Philistines; from the one he had silver, from the other he had sheep and goates to the number of fifteen thousand and foure hundred: 2 Chron. 17.10, 11. thirdly, how he joyned himself in affinity with Ahab, giving his sonne Joram in marriage to Athaliah Ahabs daughter, 2 Chron. 18.1. fourthly, how being reproved by Jehu the prophet at his return from Ramoth Gilead for helping Ahab, he again visited his kingdomes, and reformed what he found out of order both in matters of religion and justice, 2 Chron. 19.1, 11. and fifthly, how the Aramites or Damascens, with the Moabites Ammonites and Idumeans invading the land of Israel with a mighty ar∣my, Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast, and sought the Lord; whereupon the prophet Jehaziel foretold the victory which should be obtained without any bloudshed on his part, which accordingly came to passe; for the next day these nations disagree∣ing for some causes amongst themselves, those of Ammon and Moab set upon the Idumeans and brake them utterly; which done, they also slew each other, in which broil Jehoshaphat arriving, took the spoil of them all without any losse on his part, 2 Chron. 20.1—30.

Vers. 47, There was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king.] To wit, they had a deputy se•• over them by the kings of Judah, and so it had been ever since the dayes of David, 2 Sam. 8.14. and this is here inserted, either to intimate, that this it was that gave him the advantage of building a fleet at Ezion-Geber, which was in

Edoms territories; of which in the following verse: or else to note, how to this time God continued this nation in subjection to the kings of Judah, though present∣ly after in the dayes of his wicked sonne they rebelled against him: indeed we reade that some of the Idumeans were in the field with the Moabites and Ammonites a∣gainst Jehoshaphat, 2. Chron. 20.10, 22, 23. but first these might be some volun∣tary mercenaries, not sent out by the state: secondly, even these it seems were not so firm as was expected against Judah in that expedition, and therefore were slain by them of Moab and Ammon, 2. Chron. 20.23. The children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and thirdly, most clear it is, that the Idumeans did not declare themselves, and openly revolt from the crown of Judah, and make themselves a king, till the dayes of Jeho∣ram, 2. Chron. 21.8. In his dayes the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king.

Vers. 48. Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold, &c.] Or ships to go to Tharshish, or Tarshish, 2. Chron. 20.36. Concerning which, see the note, 1. Kings 10.22. Here it is said in the following verse, that Ahaziah desired to joyn with Jehoshaphat in that voyage, and that he would not consent thereto; but in the 2. Chron. 20.36, 37. it is said, that he did joyn with Ahaziah in this work, and that hereupon the Prophet Eliezer came to him, and reproved him, and foretold that his ships should be broken, which accordingly came to passe in the very port of Ezion-geber; it seems therefore that at first when Ahaziah desired this, Jehosha∣phat would not, but at last overcome with the king of Israels importunitie he yield∣ed; or else, that when a second time Ahaziah desired again to joyn with Jehosha∣phat in a navy, Jehoshaphat did then deny him, as it is here said, vers. 49. as having had sufficient warning by the losse of his former ships.

Vers. 51. Ahaziah the sonne of Ahab began to reigne over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth yeare of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, &c.] But may some say, if Je∣hoshaphat began to reigne in the fourth yeare of Ahab, as is noted above vers. 4. then the seventeenth of Jehoshaphat must needs be but the twentieth or the one and twentieth of Ahab: now since Ahab reigned two and twenty years, how is it said here, that Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reigne in the seventeenth yeare of Jehoshaphat? I answer, doubtlesse Ahaziah was made king by his father Ahab, about a yeare or two before Ahab died, and then reigned two years after his fathers death; so that he began to reigne, to wit, his father yet living, In the seventeenth yeare of Jehoshaphat, and after his fathers death he reigned also two years complete.